Power regimes: A new perspective on managing in supply
chains and networks

Andrew Cox, Joe Sanderson, and Glyn Watson

Abstract

This paper addresses two main research questions. The first is whether or not firms
should attempt to manage the multiplicity of relationships in which they are directly and
indirectly involved in their supply chains and networks. The second question, which
assumes a positive answer to the first, is how and to what end should firms manage these
multiple buyer-supplier relationships? Answers to these questions are proposed on the
basis of a novel analytical framework for mapping and explaining the power dynamics of
buyer-supplier relationships. The key original contribution made by this framewrok is that
it looks beyond individual exchange dyads to consider interactions whithin an extended
network of business relationships, which is referred to as a power regime. The
utility of the power regimes framewrok is tested with case material from the aerospace
industry. This case provides substantial evidence to support the proposition that power
regimes are often composed of a number of interlocking, but discrete, management
sub-regimes. The paper concludes that firms seeking to manage relationships with
their customers and suppliers need to understand where the boundaries between these
sub-regimes lie, because the possibility of managing a relationship that crossess a
boundary is limited, at least in the short-term. This does not preclude the possibility,
of course, that a sub-regime boundary might be moved over time by a firm's efforts to
reconfigure the power structure of particular exchange dyads.